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THE  CHRISTIAN  UW  OF  CHARITT. 


A  DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  TTIR 


Q-n.A,nr>T3.A.Ti3xrcs^  oxi^^ss 


AT    THE 


sllnfilli  i!  Si ftl  iixfEin, 


JUNE    5th,     I860,-' 


BY  THE  MOST  REV.  ARCHBISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 


By  Order  of  the  Editors  of  the  University  Magazine  for  18(K)-'6I. 


J-C 


t  CHAPEL    HILL: 

JOHN  B.  NEATHERY,  PRINTER. 

1860. 


"^       <T!>  .,jl  , 


BACCALAUREATE  SERMON, 

DELIVERED    IN    GIRARD    HALL 

BY   THE   MOST   REV.    ARCHBISHOP    HUGHES, 
June    5th,    1860. 

Young  Gentlemen  of  the  Graduating  Class: 

I  embrace  this  first  opportunity  to  thank  you  for  your  kindness  in  in- 
viting me  to  preach  on  this  occasion.  To  that  invitation  I  am  indebted 
for  the  privilege  and  pleasure  of  a  first  visit  to  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, and  to  its  noble  University,  at  Chapel  Hill;  of  which  your  State 
has  had,  now  has,  and  is  likely  to  have  still  more,  such  great  reasons  to 
be  proud. 

Matthew  xxii,  34 :  But  the  Pharisees  hearing  that  He  had  silenced  the 
Sadducees,  came  together  and  one  of  them,  a  doctor  of  the  law,  asked  Him, 
tempting  Him:  Master  which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law?  Jesus 
said  to  him :  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  thy  whole  heart,  and 
with  thy  whole  soul,  and  with  thy  whole  mind.  This  is  the  greatest  and  first 
commandment,  and  the  second  is  like  to  this:  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.     On  these  two  commandments  dependeth  the  whole  law  and  the 

Vi- :■     prophets. 

-^  It  might  appear  strange  at  first  view  that  our  divine  Kedeemer  should 

-'•'■:  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  renew  a  precept,  placing  the  affections  of  the 
human  soul  under  obedience.  It  should  seem  but  a  necessary  conse- 
quence that  they  who  know  God  to  be  their  creator,  father  and  saviour, 
should  love  him  by  a  spontaneous  movement  of  their  hearts  without  the 
necessity  of  a  commandment  to  that  effect.  But  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  precept  as  originally  laid  down  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  and 
now  so  emphatically  confirmed  by  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  was  addressed 
to  that  fallen  race  whom  he  came  to  redeem  and  elevate. 

So  fjir  as  we  know,  the  angels  themselves  were  not  commanded  to  love 
their  Creator.  The  principle  of  that  love  was  inherent  in  their  spiritual 
nature.  No  doubt  a  test  was  appointed  by  which  in  the  exercise  of  their 
free  will  they  might  prove  their  fidelity  to  God,  or  their  rebellion  against 
Him.  By  this  test  they  were  tried.  Having  been  created  simultaneously, 
the  trial  or  temptation  which  would  prove  their  fidelity  was  one  and  the 
same.  In  the  exercise  of  their  free  will  some  adhered  to  God;  others 
resisted  and  would  not  serve.  These  latter  were  expelled  from  Heaven, 
and  fell  to  rise  no  more.  For  them  there  was  not,  and  there  was  not  to 
be,  at  any  time  a  saviour. 

Again,  in  the  creation  of  our  first  parents  in  the  garden  of  Paradise 
there  is  no  evidence  that  God  imposed  on  them  any  special  obligation  to 

/■  love  him.  This  would  be  necessarily  implied,  but  it  has  not  been  specifi- 
cally commanded.  Their  test  by  which  they  should  recognize  the 
supremacy  and  sovereignty  of  their  creator  was  embodied  in  a  prohibi- 
tory prece}:)t  forbidding  them  to  taste  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil.  They  were  free,  and  in  the  exercise  of 
their  freedom  they  chose  to  violate  the  commandment  of  their  God,  and 
to  involve  themselves  and  their  posterity  in  a  ruin  which  would  have  been 
irremediable  for  time  and  for  eternity  if  God  had  not  so  loved  the  world 
"^  as  to  give  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  should  believe  in  Him 
(X)     might  not  perish,  but  might  have  life  everlasting.     It  is  to  their  dcscend- 

4- 


ants,  all  maimed  and  wounded  in  their  nature  by  the  ravages  of  original 
and  actual  sin,  that  the  precept  was  given  in  specific  wordS;,  commanding 
them  to  love  God  and  to  love  their  neighbor. 

There  is  a  great  mystery  involved  in  what  I  have  just  said.  The  right 
understanding  of  it  furnishes  a  key  for  all  other  mysteries.  It  is  this — 
Why  Grod  permitted  that  the  noblest  work  of  His  creation,  viz:  angels 
and  men,  should  have  the  power  to  rebel  against  Him,  whilst  all  the 
other  portions  of  His  creation  obey  His  laws  with  constant  and  unvarying 
fidelity?  in  other  words,  why  God  should  have  permitted  sin,  or  at  leas* 
not  prevented  it?  The  answer  to  this  is — so  far  as  man  may  interpret 
the  divine  counsel — that  he  created  both  angels  and  men,  and  endowed 
them  with  such  exalted  faculties  that  an  obedience  of  necessity  on  their 
part  would  have  been  unworthy  of  His  infinite  majesty  and  of  the  dig- 
nity of  their  nature. 

There  were  but  two  alternatives.  One  would  be  the  law  of  necessity 
by  which  they  should  have  to  move  under  perpetual  compulsion,  and  thus 
stand  before  God,  bowing  reverence,  as  puppets  on  a  wire  bow  at  the  touch 
of  a  spring.  This  order  has  been  observed  by  the  Almighty  in  the  crea- 
tion of  the  material  world,  whether  animate  or  inanimate.  Thus  the 
planet  which  we  inhabit  obeys  God  in  its  revolutions,  in  its  seasons,  in  its 
fertility,  in  the  beauty  of  its  solid  grounds,  and  the  terrific  majesty  of  its 
mighty  oceans.  Thus  the  other  planets  of  our  system  naove  in  their 
orbits  with  a  constancy  and  regularity  that  has  never  been  found  at  faults 
Each  is  found  precisely  in  the  place  at  the  time  appointed  according  to 
the  law  which  God  has  imposed  upon  them  for  their  guidance.  Thu3 
also  in  reference  to  the  stars,  which  His  powerful  hand  has  distributed 
and  poised  in  their  several  places  throughout  the  immensity  of  space. 
If  God,  therefore,  had  denied  free  will  at  their  creation,  either  to  angels 
or  men,  they  would  have  fallen  under  a  law  similar  to  that  which  is 
applicable  to  the  irrational  works  of  Almighty  God.  Sin,  indeed  would 
have  been  thus  prevented;  but  then  intelligence  would  have  been  a  su- 
perfluous burden,  free  will  a  mockery,  and  memory  either  useless  or  im- 
possible. There  would  be  no  rational  being  to  offer  feeely  its  homage 
and  adoration  to  its  creator  and  sovereign.  God  wohW  still  remain  in 
the  solitude  of  His  being,  as  He  was  previouss  to  the  creation  of  men  or 
angels.  He  might  contemplate  His  works  as  tbcy  would  stand  out  giv- 
ing evidence  of  His  power,  but  among  them  all  there  would  not  be  any  per- 
son, or  anything  capable  of  rendering  Him  that  soul-felt,  rational,  volun- 
tary homage  which  is  due  from  all  creatures,  as  a  recognition  of  his  infinite 
power  and  unspeakable  perfection.  Men  and  angels,  and  things  whether 
animate  or  inanimate,  would  be  under  a  law  ef  necessity.  Fjee  will  there 
could  be  none,  and  without  free  will  there  can  be  no  ratiouaJ;  or  voluntary 
obedience,  love  or  adoration  towards  God. 

As  it  is,  all  His  works  may  be  referred  to  as  exemplifying  Hia  omnipo- 
tence and  His  glory.  They  do  not  understand  themselves.  But  man,  in 
the  greatness  of  his  intellect,  can  be  their  interpreter.  He  can  read 
their  bright  pages,  and  even,  if  Heaven  had  not  given  him  a  better  book, 
this  alone  would  be  sufficient  to  raise  his  soul  and  fix  his  heart  in  the 
contemplation  of  his  divine  author. 

But  after  all,  it  is  not  in  the  survey  of  this  outward  glorious  world  that 
man  discovers  those  perfections  of  his  Creator,  which  excite  him  to  charity 
and  love.  "When  we  consider  His  eternity.  His  infiiaite  knowledge,  His 
omnipotence,  the  wonders  of  His  creation,  we  arc  filled  with  respect,  with 


astonishment,  with  admiration ;  our  understanding  is  confounded,  is  over- 
whelmed, but  the  heart  is  not  touched.  It  is  only  when  we  meditate 
upon  His  goodness,  His  mercy,  and  His  charity  towards  His  creatures 
that  our  hearts  feci  the  first  attraction  of  love,  by  which  we  are  drawn  to 
Him,  and  recognize  that  His  love  for  us  should  be  reciprocated  on  our 
part. 

Here,  then,  we  begin  to  understand  the  reasonableness  of  the  precept 
by  which  we  are  commanded  to  love  Him  with  our  whole  heart,  and  with 
our  whole  soul,  and  with  our  whole  mind — and  our  neighbors  as  ourselves. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  us  to  know  whether  at  any  time  we 
love  God  according  to  the  force  and  energy  which  the  evangelist  employs 
in  characterizing  the  nature  of  that  love.  Parents  and  children,  and  even 
friends,  are  conscious  of  the  affection  which  binds  them  to  each  other. 
But  this  is  in  the  natural  order.  It  is  tender.  It  is  sustained,  while  it 
lasts,  in  a  great  measure,  by  the  aid  of  the  senses  as  well  as  the  suscepti- 
bility of  our  nature.  The  love  which  we  owe  to  God,  is  not  of  this  order, 
since  we  see  Him  not  with  the  eyes  of  the  flesh,  since  we  hear  Him  not 
except  through  the  echoes  of  His  word.  The  love,  therefore,  that  is  due 
to  Him,  is  of  n  supernatural  character,  and  the  precept  of  our  Saviour 
does  not  imply  that  we  shall  be  moved  to  deep  sensibility  by  the  operation 
of  divine  love  in  our  hearts.  It  requires  that  we  should  love  God  as  God, 
and  man  as  our  noi2;hbor.  Our  blessed  Saviour  has  abundantly  explained 
this  .point  by  laying  down  the  test  of  love  such  as  the  law  requires.  In 
the  14th  chapter  of  St.  John  we  are  told :  "  He  that  hath  my  command- 
Baents  and  keepeth  them,  be  it  is  that  loveth  me.  And  he  that  loveth 
me  shall  be  loved  of  my  Father,  and  I  will  love  him  and  manifest  myself 
to  him."  And  again,  in  the  same  evangelist,  we  find  the  Saviour's  words 
as  follows :  "  If  you  keep  my  commandments  you  shall  abide  in  my  love, 
as  I  also  have  .kept  my  Father's  commandments,  and  do  abide  in  His 
love." 

The  test,  tteroPore,  laid  down  by  the  Saviour  himself  shows  that  the 
fulfilmeut  of  the  precept  is  not  necessarily  evidenced  by  sentiments  or 
feelings  which  are  present  to  us,  and  of  which  we  are  conscious  at  any  time 
but  .rather  depcads  for  its  accomplishment  upon  the  sterner  virtues  of 
self-denial  and  obedience  to  the  commandments. 

This  will  require  many  sacrifices  which  it  is  impossible  to  make  unless 
by  the  aid  of  divine  grace,  promised  to  us  through  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ,  for  without  Him  we  can  do  nothing. 

There  is  another  point  of  view  in  which  it  would  seem  that  the  nature 
of  man,  even  in  his  fall,  is  such  that  it  is  of  itself  prepared  for  the  recep- 
tion of  .the  precept  contained  in  my  text.  His  heart's  life  is  love.  The 
capacity  of  that  love  can  embrace  the  boundaries  of  the  world,  and  elevated 
by  fdivine  grace,  can  penetrate  the  heavens,  and  make  its  oiferings  at  the 
foot  of  the  throne  of  God  himself.  We  all  know  this  by  experience,  that 
we  can  love  our  parents,  our  kindred,  our  friends,  our  neighbors,  our 
country,  our  fellow  beings  throughout  the  world.  Of  course,  in  propor- 
tion as  these  are  more  nearly  related  to  us,  our  love,  if  I  can  so  speak,  is 
mare  ardent.  But  God  hascndowed  our  hearts  with  a  capacity  to  extend, 
in  principle,  at  least,  our  .good  will  to  men,  and  even  to  angels.  And  yet 
this  capacity  and  the  love  itself  remain  undiminished,  like  the  light  and 
warmth  of  the  sun,  which  constantly  diffuse  themselves  over  the  world, 
and  are  never  exhausted  or  diminished  in  the  luminous  fountain  from 
which  they  proceed.     This  aptitude  in  the  natural  order  would  seem  to 


have  been  a  preparation  for  our  duties  in  the  supernatural.  God  has  so 
created  us  that  we  could  not  divest  ourselves  of  the  desire  to  be  happy. 
We  seek  to  satisfy  that  desire  by  placing  our  affection  upon  objects  en- 
tirely inadequate  to  the  purpose.  They  are  attractive,  and  in  addition  we 
invest  them  with  properties  of  excellence  by  which  we  suppose  that  in 
their  possession  we  should  find  happiness.  Sometimes  we  are  not  disap- 
pointed. But  the  duration  of  our  felicity  is  always  precarious  and  essen- 
tially brief  The  object  is  removed  from  us — or  it  has  not  the  qualities 
which  we  had  ascriloed  to  it — or  it  has  not  accomplished  towards  our 
felicity  what  we  had  anticipated — or  our  affection  itself  has  undergone  a 
change,  and  we  find  that  our  love  yearns  for  something  better,  something 
more  permanent,  something  more  capable  of  filling  up  the  void  which  we 
feel.  Now,  in  reality,  so  immense  is  the  capacity  of  love  in  the  human 
heart  that  nothing  can  satisfy  it  fully,  adequately  and  permanently  except 
God,  who  is  unchangeable,  infinitely  lovely  and  perfect.  Show  me  a  man 
who,  without  forfeiting  any  just  privilege  of  human  affection  really  loves 
God,  and  I  will  point  him  out  to  you  as  one  who  is  essentially  happy. 
For  another,  who  fixes  his  affections  upon  human  things,  no  matter  how 
excellent  they  may  or  seem  to  be,  but  who  does  not  love  God,  real  happi- 
ness is  utterly  impossible.  And  it  is  for  this  reason  that  St.  Augustine 
exclaimed:  "Thou  hast  made  us  for  Thyself,  0  God!  and  our  hearts 
cannot  rest  until  they  rest  in  Thee." 

Among  Christians  of  every  name  it  is  well  ascertained  that  meek-eyed 
Charity  has  never  given  rise  to  controversy.  She  has  been  recognized  by 
all  as  the  dove  bearing  amidst  the  distractions  of  the  Christian  world  the 
olive  branch  of  peace.  All  have  recognized  in  her  the  descriptions  of  the 
heavenly  virtue,  as  given  by  St.  Paul :  Charity  is  patient,  is  kind.  Chari- 
ty envieth  not,  dealeth  not  perversely,  is  not  puffed  up.  Now  it  is  certain 
that  the  ground-work  of  charity  is  the  love  of  God  as  commanded  in  the 
words  of  my  text,  and  yet  infidelity  has  not  hesitated  to  raise  its  voice 
against  this  virtue,  and  to  proclaim  that  it  is  impossible  to  love  a  God  such 
as  our  religion  represents  him  to  be — that  it  is  impossible  to  love  a  God 
who  inspires  fear  into  the  hearts  of  men  and  punishes  crime  by  an  ever- 
lasting penalty.  But  we  answer^  if  God  did  not  punish  crime  on  what 
basis  could  virtue  and  holiness  found  their  hopes  of  His  approval  and 
of  their  recompense  at  His  hands.  No  infidel  has  yet  dared  to  deny  the 
distinction  between  vice  and  virtue.  The  simplest  notions  of  common 
justice  indicate  that  God,  as  a  legislator,  exercises  the  double  function  of 
rewarding  the  one  and  punishing  the  other,  otherwise  the  wicked  and  the 
just  would  be  on  a  perfect  equality  in  the  Divine  presence.  Crime  would 
have  no  remorse,  and  virtue  would  be  robbed  of  its  motive  and  its  hope. 
Where  a  wicked  man,  against  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth,  imbrues  hia 
hands  in  the  blood  of  his  brother,  he  is  justly,  by  Divine  and  human  law, 
condemned  to  forfeit  his  life.  His  country  causes  him  to  be  executed, 
and  if  the  infidel's  argument  were  sound  that  would  be  a  reason  why  we 
should  not  love  our  country.  But  he  would  say  that,  after  all,  it  was  only 
the  cruel  anticipation  of  a  death  which,  in  the  natural  order,  would  occur 
at  no  very  distant  period,  but  that  God's  penalty  for  unrepented  crime  is 
eternal.  This,  so  far  as  his  objection  is  concerned,  is  a  fallacy.  The  ex- 
ecution of  a  man  by  the  authority  of  his  country  is  an  act,  so  far  as  he 
is  concerned,  reaching  to  eternity.  He  dies  oftentimes  impenitent,  some- 
times blaspheming  God,  and  pouring  his  maledictions  on  his  fellow-beings. 
We  know  what  the  sentence  of  Divine  justice  will  be  in  his  regard,  but 


the  execution  of  the  sentence  is  not  postponcfl  on  that  account.  Shall  we, 
therefore,  cease  to  love  our  country  ?  Assuredly  not.  But  it  would  cease  to 
deserve  our  patriotism  if  it  did  not  make  the  distinction  between  virtue  and 
vice — if  it  did  not  protect  the  good  citizen  and  punish  the  evil-doer. 

I  mention  this  illustration  of  the  fallacy  as  well  as  the  impiety  that  are 
generally  blended  together  in  theseductive  pages  of  infidel  writing,  because, 
unhappily,  falling  into  the  hands  of  young  men  merging  from  college  life, 
they  but  too  often  produce  impressions,  or  doubts,  or  hesitations,  which  it 
will  take  years  and  years  oftentimes  to  vanquish  and  remove.  They  would 
do  well,  therefere,  to  avoid  every  species  of  written  or  of  spoken  infidelity. 
They  would  do  well  to  cherish  the  simple  belief  of  those  lessons  both  of 
precept  and  example  which  were  inculcated  in  the  domestic  circle  of  their 
homes  and  their  university.  Infidels  may  speak  and  write  as  they  will, 
multiplying  with  seductive  eloquence  their  words  against  religion,  but 
educated  youth  should  not  permit  such  words  to  disturb  in  their  regard 
the  foundation  of  Christianity,  for  they  are  solid  as  the  everlasting  hills, 
and  indestructible  as  the  Divine  architect  by  whom  they  were  laid.  Other 
things  including  infidels  and  infidel  writings  shall  pass  away,  but  the 
foundation  and  the  superstructure  of  Christianity — never. 

Having  said  so  much  on  the  first,  on  the  greatest  and  the  first  com- 
mandment, we  turn  to  the  second,  which  is  like  to  it — Thou  shalt  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself. 

The  fulfilment  of  this  precept  is,  under  all  circumstances,  difiicult,  and 
were  it  not  that  it  depends  on  the  first  commandment — the  love  of  God — 
of  which  it  is  an  inseparable  appendix,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that,  in  many  cases,  it  would  be  impossible.  And  yet  it  is  the  special 
test  by  which  Christ  would  have  his  disciples  to  be  recognised.  In  the 
13th  chapter  of  St.  John  He  says:  "A  new  commandment  I  give 
unto  you — that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  you 
also  love  one  another.  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my 
disciples,  if  ye  have  love  one  for  another."  In  the  15th  chapter  of 
the  same  Gospel  our  Saviour  declares:  "This  is  my  commandment,  that 
you  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you.  Greater  love  than  this  no 
man  hath,  that'  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.  You  are  my 
friends,  if  you  do  the  things  that  I  command  you."  The  sphere  in  which 
this  virtue  is  to  be  exercised  is  precisely  that  which  is  occupied  by  our 
fallen  race.  This  portion  of  the  Divine  precept  could  have  no  applica- 
tion either  to  our  first  parents  or  to  the  celestial  spirits  that  surround  the 
throne  of  God.  Among  them  there  is  no  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of 
fraternal  charity — there  are  no  tears  to  be  dried  away — no  sorrows  to  be 
assuaged — no  sufiierings  to  be  alleviated — no  desolate  orphans  nor  any 
destitute,  aged  or  sick  to  be  protected  or  comforted.  But  in  this  life,  on 
the  contrary,  the  very  order  of  human  existence  would  seem  to  have 
pointed  out  to  man  the  necessity  of  mutual  aid  between  those  who  need 
it  and  those  who  have  the  means  to  afford  it.  This  is  clear  from  the  mo- 
ment we  reflect  that  there  is  no  member  of  the  human  family  that  is  in- 
dependent by  himself  alone ;  be  he  a  king,  or  be  he  a  beggar,  the  neces- 
sity of  aid  and  sympathy  from  his  fellow-beings  is  indispensible ;  and  this 
law  pervades  the  whole  human  race,  proving  that  man  was  created  for 
society  and  not  for  solitude  or  selfishness.  The  human  family  exists  by 
succession  in  the  natural  order,  and  not  by  a  simultaneous  creation.  In 
the  weakness  of  childhood,  or  in  the  feebleness  of  old  age,  we  should 
perish  promptly,  were  it  not  for  the  aid  and  protection  that  are  furnished 


6 

iby  our  kindred,  or  our  fellow-heimgs.  In  the  moral  order,  wc  sbould  grow 
up  in  ignorance  of  our  God  and  of  our  duty,  were  "we  not  provided  with 
the  means  of  instruction  by  those  who  were  in  life  before  us.  Under 
these  circumstances,  it  would  seem  but  natural  that  mankind  should,  from 
the  very  necessity  of  the  case,  from  a  sense  of  their  mutual  dependence 
on  each  other,  have  coalesced  in  a  common  system  of  mutual  aid  and  mu- 
tual benefit.  We  know  from  history,  however,  that  the  very  reverse  of 
this  has  been  the  ordinary  condition  of  men  whenever  Divine  Charity 
had  not  prepared  the  way  for  the  right  appreciation  of  the  duties  which 
we  owe  one  to  another.  Human  nature  was  essentially  the  same  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places;  and  yet,  if  you  go  outside  the  boundaries  of 
Christianity,  you  will  find  not  a  trace  or  an  evidence  of  the  benefits  which 
scharity  has  difl'used  among  the  followers  of  Christ.  Humanity  had  not 
been  extinguished — philosophy  boasted  itself  as  philanthropic,  but  this 
was  only  in  pompous  words,  for  nothing  was  in  reality  a-ccoaiplished. 
Cruelty  in  legislation,  hard-heartedness  in  social  life,  indifference  to  the 
sufferings  of  others,  the  oppression  of  the  weak  by  the  strong,  the  delibe- 
rate and  authorized  destruction  by  parents  of  their  offspring,  the  power 
of  life  and  death  over  their  children  and  domestic  dependants — these 
were  all  that  humanity  could  accomplish,  whilst  it  was  unenlightened  by 
Divine  Charity,  and  unimpelled  to  do  good  by  the  precept  and  esiumple 
of  our  Lord.  It  was  into  such  a  world  that  He  introduced  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  by  a  new  commandment  inculcated  especially  the  mu- 
tual duty  of  love  and  charity — a  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you, 
that  you  love  one  another.  This  is  my  commandment,  that  you  love  one 
another.  He  that  hath  my  commandments,  and  keepeth  them,  he  it  is 
that  loveth  me.  And  St.  John,  in  the  4th  chapter  of  his  first  epistle, 
says :  "  Let  us,  therefore,  love  God,  because  God  hath  first  loved  us.  If 
any  man  say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a  liar,  for  he  that 
loveth  not  his  brother,  whom  he  seeth,  how  can  love  God,  whom  he  seeth 
not,  this  commandment  we  have  from  God,  that  he  who  loveth  God  loves 
also  his  brother."  From  the  period,  therefore,  when  Christ  imposed  this 
new  commandment  upon  his  disciples  there  was  light  and  hope  for  the 
world.  After  the  ascension  of  our  Redeemer  the  Apostles  and 
those  who  succeeded  them  in  their  ministry  ceased  not  to  inculcate 
this  as  an  obligatory  part  of  His  religion,  so  that  wherever  the  Gospel 
was  preached  charity  became  an  essential  portion  of  Christianity.  It  had 
to  encounter  the  hostility  of  paganism  and  of  human  passions.  Never- 
theless, it  diffused  its  happy  influence  on  every  side.  Even  before  the 
close  of  the  persecutions  by  the  Roman  Emperors  it  had  accomplish- 
ed wonders,  both  among  the  disciples  themselves  and  the  pagans  by 
whom  they  were  surrounded.  Eusebius,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History, 
tells  UB  of  the  miracles  of  fraternal  charity  performed  by  the  brethren 
during  the  pestilence,  that  desolated  the  Roman  Empire  for  a  period  of 
ten  years,  in  the  third  century,  in  which  they  took  care  not  only  of  their 
own  members,  but  also  of  the  suffering  pagans,  who  had  been  abandoned  by 
their  own  friends  and  relatives.  And  St.  John  Chrysostom,  in  his  preface 
to  the  Epistle  to  the  Phillippians,  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  charity 
of  the  Christians  exercised  a  most  powerful  influence  in  the  conversion  of 
the  pagans.  We  know  that  Julien,  the  apostate,  was  bitter  in  his  reproach- 
es against  those  who  still  adhered  to  the  tottering  gods  of  paganism,  be- 
cause they  permitted  themselves  to  be  so  outstrii)pcd  by  the  Galileans  iu 
works  of  fraternal  charity. 


I  am  aware  that  the  precept  of  our  Saviour  on  this  subject,  if  misuii- 
dcrstood,  is  liable  to  objection.  For  instance,  wc  are  commanded  to  love  not 
only  our  neighbors  but  our  enemies.  Now,  if  this  were  understood  to  be 
a  love  such  as  a  parent  cherishes  for  his  son,  or  mutual  friends  for  each 
other,  obedience  to  the  precept  would  hardly  be  possible.  But  in  this  case 
also  our  Divine  Redeemer  described  the  species  of  love  which  we  are  to 
entertain  for  our  enemies.  In  the  5th  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  He  says  : 
"You  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  and 
hate  thy  enemies;  but  I  say  to  you,  love  your  enemies.  Do  good  to  them 
that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute  and  calumniate  you." 
Now  this  is  the  species  of  love  which  is  required  in  order  to  fulfill  His 
precept.  There  are  other  passages  connected  with  this  subject,  to  which 
exception  has  been  taken.  It  has  been  said  that  the  duty  of  doino-  unto 
others  as  we  would  that  others  should  do  unto  us,  if  reduced  into  practice 
would  in  many  instances,  be  subversive  of  order  in  civil  society,  and  tend  to 
reduce  all  conditions  of  life  to  a  certain  species  of  general  equality.  No 
such  consequence  can  be  fairly  deduced  from  the  legitimate  meaning  of 
fraternal  charity.  Order  and  subordination  it  respects.  Government  is 
essential  in  the  family  and  in  the  State,  and  no  government  can  subsist  in 
either  without  the  distinction  of  conditions.  But  charity  would  reconcile 
and  elevate  them  all  into  the  beautiful  harmony  of  Christian  brotherhood. 
Such  has  been  the  effect  of  her  influence  from  the  days  of  Christ  himselfj 
ber  advance  may  seem  to  us  to  have  been  slow ;  but  it  has  ever  been 
steady  and  progressive.  Under  her  auspices  every  species  of  human  suf- 
fering has  been,  to  a  great  extent,  provided  for.  She  has  operated  in  a 
two-fold  manner;  first,  acting  on  individuals  in  their  every-day  life,  pre- 
paring them  to  do  good,  and  to  relieve  distress  in  a  private  way ;  next,  ia 
inducing  Christian  to  combine  for  accomplishing  works  of  humanity 
through  the  means  of  association,  and  thus  in  every  Christian  land,  whether 
of  Europe  or  of  America,  public  institutions  have  been  erected  for  the  relief 
of  human  wretchedness.  She  has  provided  homes  and  nurses,  and  food 
and  clothing,  and  instruction  for  destitute  orphans  and  abandoned  infants 
-—retreats  for  the  aged — hospitals  for  the  sick.  With  that  ingeniousness 
which  the  love  of  God  and  man  inspires,  she  has  invented  a  language  for 
the  deaf  and  dumb,  by  which  they  can  interchange  thought  with  each 
other,  the  same  as  if  the  gift  of  speech  and  hearing  had  not  been  denied 
them.  She  has  contrived  a  system  of  education  by  which  the  blind  can 
read  by  touch  of  their  fingers.  Even  the  insane  have  not  been  forgotten  in 
the  scope  of  the  love  enjoined  upon  us  by  the  commandment  of  Christ. 
It  is  true  that  many  of  these  institutions  have  been  founded  and  fostered 
by  civil  governments.  But  whence  did  such  governments  derive  the 
feeling  and  convictions  which  have  prompted  them  to  make  such  provis- 
ions for  the  poor  ?  Unquestionably  they  have  descended  to  us  from  the 
precept  of  our  Lord,  for  wherever  that  precept  is  unknown  civil  govern- 
ments have  never  attempted  anything  of  the  kind.  The  most  civilized 
countries  of  paganism,  such  as  Grreece  and  Rome,  never  left  behind  them 
a  single  monument,  I  had  almost  said,  of  decent  humanity.  They  ex- 
celled us,  indeed,  in  works  of  art,  which  we  still  admire.  But  so  far  as 
the  interest  of  humanity  are  concerned,  all  those  works,  including  the 
admirable  productions  of  Phidas  and  Praxiteles,  are  insignificant  as  com- 
pared with  the  single  lunatic  asylum,  which  crowns  one  of  the  summits 
of  your  beautiful  capital. 

There  have  not  been  wanting  those  who  have  criticised  and  almost  cen- 


8 

sured  this  wliolo  system  of  Christian  chai'ity  and  human  benevolence. 
They  have  insisted  that  it  encourages  idleness  and  destroys  that  noble 
feeling  of  self-reliance  on  the  exercise  of  which  the  prosperous  and  heal- 
thy condition  of  a  community  so  much  depends.  Alas!  it  is  easy  for 
those  who  have  inherited  or  acquired  by  their  own  industry  competency 
and  wealth  to  criticise  the  condition  of  their  less  fortunate  brethren.  In 
some  few  instances  such  an  abuse  of  public  and  private  charity  on  the 
part  of  those  who  are  its  recipients  may  have  taken  place,  but  this  is  not 
a  valid  reason  why  the  love  of  our  neighbors  should  be  discountenanced. 
It  is  not  the  poor  alone  who  abuse  the  gifts  which  God  bestows  upon 
them,  whether  by  the  hands  of  charity  or  through  any  other  channel. 
Is  not  every  gift  of  His  liable  to  abuse  ?  The  light  of  the  day — the 
darkness  of  the  night — the  wealth,  of  which  His  providence  has  made 
us  the  stewards — the  health,  without  which  life  itself  would  become  tire- 
some— do  we  not  abuse  them  all?  But  Grod,  who  knows  our  nature, 
does  not  withhold  those  gifts  because  we  occasionally  abuse  them.  Let  us 
extend  the  same  principle  to  the  poor,  and  hold  in  its  merited  estimation 
that  great  commandment  of  our  Lord  and  Master,  that  as  His  disciples 
we  should  love  one  another. 

Young  gentlemen  of  the  graduating  class,  my  task  is  done.  I  have 
endeavored  to  present  to  you,  not  according  to  the  details  of  theology, 
but  in  a  broad  and  general  view  of  its  benefits,  the  great  precept  of  Chris- 
tian charity.  I  have  pointed  out  the  divine  authority  on  which  the  pre- 
cept is  founded,  whether  as  it  regards  the  love  of  God  or  the  love  of  our 
neighbor.  This  has  not  been  in  that  style  of  language,  of  oratory,  or  of 
eloquence  to  which  you  have  been  accustomed,  or  which  befits  the  hall 
of  science  and  such  an  audience  as  I  see  before  me.  For  more  than  a 
third  of  a  century  it  has  been  my  duty  to  preach  the  word  of  God,  but 
it  was,  almost  always,  to  the  willing  ears  and  fervent  hearts  of  the  hum- 
ble and  simple  minded,  who  in  their  own  fervor  were  prepared  to  hear 
and  be  edified  at  whatever  might  be  said.  In  speaking  to  them  I  have 
acquired  the  habit  of  imitating  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel  itself,  caring 
little  for  ornaments  of  style,  provided  I  could  find  terms  calculated  to 
convey  ideas.  If  the  ideas  should  be  retained  by  my  hearers,  the  lan- 
guage, which  had  been  used  as  their  vehicle,  was  of  the  slightest  conse- 
quence. On  this  occasion,  however,  more  attention  to  the  language,  as 
well  as  to  the  idea,  might  have  been  given  with  great  propriety.  I  have 
at  least,  given  you  proof  of  my  good-will;  and  if  I  have  communicated 
ideas  that  may  rise  up  in  your  memory  hereafter,  prompting  you  to  love 
God  and  your  neighbor,  I  shall  feel  myself  highly  rewarded.  In  the 
mean  time,  I  thank  you  for  that  patience  and  attention  which  you  have 
exhibited  during  my  discourse.  You  are  now  about  to  go  forth  and  enter 
upon  the  busy  scenes  of  active  life.  It  is  the  wish  and  the  hope  of  all 
your  nearer  friends,  and  it  is  mine  also,  that  you  will  so  deport  yourselves 
on  the  new  theatre  of  life  as  to  reflect  credit  upon  your  distinguished 
alma  mater,  be  a  source  of  comfort  and  legitimate  pride  to  your  parents 
and  your  family,  and  an  honor  to  the  great  country  which  rightfully  ex- 
pects much  from  her  noble  sons  who  have  had  the  benefits  of  such  an 
education  as  it  has  been  your  privilege  to  receive.  Another  wish  and 
hope,  which  I  may  be  allowed  to  express  in  my  own  name,  is  that  God 
will  protect  you,  pour  upon  you  his  choicest  blessings  in  this  life,  and  enable 
you  to  reach  that  better  life,  in  another  world,  for  which  you  were  created. 


